The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a sheet member intended to be used as a topsheet or a backsheet forming a part of a disposable garment such as a disposable diaper, training pants, incontinence pants and the like.
There have been proposed various disposable garments such as disposable diapers, training pants and incontinence pants having a front section, a rear section and a crotch section extending therebetween. In general, such garment comprises a skin-contactable topsheet, a skin-noncontactable backsheet and optionally a liquid-absorbent core disposed therebetween. In these sheets, the crotch section has transversely opposite side edges thereof curved inward with respect to the garment to improve a fitness around the wearer's legs and the sheets as a whole present a sandglass-shape in unfolded states thereof.
The topsheet or backsheet in such sandglass-shape can be obtained by cutting off substantially semicircular pieces from transversely opposite long sides of a rectangular nonwoven fibrous sheet or plastic film. However, these semicircular pieces of sheets are usually discarded as waste pieces and material is correspondingly wasted.